What, Another Travel Day??
Trip Start
Oct 30, 2008
1
16
19
Trip End
Nov 15, 2008
Singapore,
Singapore
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Breakfast was simple, as was checkout, and most of us then spent our remaining two hours hanging out around the pool. The staff hauled our luggage down to the water for us. Wow, what a collection! We then departed the resort by boat at 10am, with our luggage coming along with us in a second boat. Many of the staff turned out on the shore to wave goodbye to us and wish us well. It wasn't hard to leave, but we will definitely miss our time here.
After a quick 15 minute boat ride across the Lembeh Straight, we were back at the police dock in the port city of Bitung. After unloading all of us and our luggage, we then piled into large shuttle vans to begin our journey back to the airport in Manado. Ohhhhh my. Memories! Yikes...
We are very thankful to report that the ride back to Manado did not carry any of the same heightened stress level or elevated sense of self preservation that the ride out of Manado had. We must have taken a different route, because it was nowhere near as adventurous (okay, DANGEROUS) as our first time around. We were at the airport in about an hour and a half, and check in there was very easy and uneventful. Security lines were a breeze and there was actually nothing to report. Everyone did a bit of last minute food, drink and small souvenir shopping before just hanging out waiting for our time to board. Goodbye, Indonesia! It has been a wonderful time diving in some of the most beautiful seas there are. Memories to last a life time!
So finally, we're actually getting a chance to start a blog in the middle of the day instead of trying to play catch-up! We're typing this while in the air, flying the friendly skies and headed for Singapore. In Singapore, we'll be transferred to our hotel for a three night stay before finally returning home. We're all really looking forward to it, as Singapore is supposed to be an amazing city. We hope you've enjoyed following along with our trip so far, and that you will continue to join us in Singapore.
After landing, we easily made our way through customs and immigration and then collected our baggage for the bus ride to the hotel. We're staying at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in downtown Singapore for the next three nights. A near disaster did almost occur though! At one of the other hotel stops, the driver unloaded someone's luggage from the side compartment but forgot to close the door! One of the members of our group noticed and yelled just as we were driving away, having already dumped three bags out onto the street. Now that could have been disastrous! Fortunately, the bags were recovered and all was well.
We finally made it to our hotel at about 8pm. After settling in to the rooms, everyone then met up for a late dinner in one of the hotel restaurants before turning in for the night. We've got a big couple of last days of vacation ahead, so off to bed!!
Pam and Andy
